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Dāduša
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Biography of Dāduša
Narām-Sîn had a brother named Dāduša, who also occupied the throne of Ešnunna. It seems, however, that it did not immediately succeed Narām-Sîn, but followed after the short reigns of Dannum-tahaz, then Iqiš-Tišpak. The length of the reign of Dāduša remains unknown to us, although it ended in 1780. About ten year-names are currently attested, but their chronological succession is unknown. The reign of Dāduša is best known to us through the relations, first hostile and then peaceful, with its neighbour, the mighty Samsî-Addu of Ekallâtum. The period of hostility was marked by the reconquest by Ešnunna of the middle Euphrates up to the outskirts of Mari, where Yasmah-Addu reigned. This victorious campaign, which took place undoubtedly under the eponymy of Ikuppiya (ca. 1783), was followed by the conclusion of a peace treaty, the clauses of which remain unknown to us. Dāduša seems to have sent troops in reinforcement to Samsî-Addu during the expedition organised by him to the rescue of the king of Qatna. A recently discovered stele in Ešnunna relates the campaign led by Dāduša against King Bûnu-Eštar of Arbèles, conducted in cooperation with the armies of Samsî-Addu. It ended with the capture of Qabrâ, commemorated in the last name of the year of Dāduša (1780). It is to this king that we owe the famous laws of Ešnunna, of which two manuscripts were discovered in Šaduppum.
(translated from "Dictionnaire de la Civilisation Mésopotamienne”, p. 316-317, Dominique Charpin)
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